Watch: Hardik Pandya interviews Virat Kohli after T20 WC win over Pakistan
Virat Kohli has described the last-ball T20 World Cup win over Pakistan in Melbourne on Sunday (October 23) as “one of the most memorable nights” of his life, and admitted that he was feeling a lot of pressure during the run chase.
Kohli single-handedly took India to the finish line in a run chase of 160 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in a Super 12 Group 2 contest. The former captain remained unbeaten on 82 off 53.
Also read: T20 World Cup: Kohli, the master chaser is back with a bang
After the famous win, Kohli spoke to Hardik Pandya in an interview posted on the official website of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Thanks to Kohli and Pandya’s century partnership, lifting the team from the depts of 31/4, India won off the final ball with Ravichandran Ashwin scoring the winning run in front of 90,000-plus spectators.
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“Firstly, we had a great partnership. There was a lot of pressure. When Hardik came in to play, we were in a very difficult position,” Kohli started off in the interview.
“To be honest, I was feeling a lot of pressure because I have played in a lot of these matches before and I understand the expectations and the magnitude of the game. But he was very fearless in that partnership. When he came on to bat, he kept telling me to communicate, and we would look to bat deep and build a partnership, and anything can happen,” he added.
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He continued, “He really kept me focused at that point because I wanted to hit a few big shots at the time, which could have been risky since we were already four wickets down. I spoke to Rahul (Dravid) bhai about the same at the 10th over mark. We kept batting and I did not know when we reached the 100-run partnership. We were just focused on getting the boundaries at the right time.”
Kohli recalled his match-winning knock against Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup and compared this innings with that.
“It is one of the most memorable nights of my life for sure. I have played for 15 years; I don’t think I have experienced emotions like this before. Last time I experienced something like this was against Australia in Mohali (in 2016). I was a bit emotional then but right now I am numb, maybe because that was more like a quarter-final for us,” said Kohli.
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Pandya said it was “one of the fondest memories of my cricketing career”.
With just the first game won in the T20 World Cup 2022, Kohli said he and the team was focused on the rest of the tournament.
“As happy and emotional as we are and the win will take some time to sink in, we understand as professionals that it is just one game, the first game. And why it is so special is because of the situation we were in, to be able to get these two points and get the first win is very crucial. We have seen before in the Asia Cup that if you fall behind once, it becomes very difficult to catch up. So, starting right is very important and this has given us tremendous belief,” he said.
Watch the full interview here.
Of special knocks, game-changing sixes & thrilling victory at the MCG! 👌 💪
𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹: Men of the moment – @imVkohli & @hardikpandya7 – chat after #TeamIndia beat Pakistan in the #T20WorldCup. 👏 👏 – By @RajalArora
Full interview 🎥 🔽 #INDvPAKhttps://t.co/3QKftWa7dk pic.twitter.com/sK7TyLFcSI
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2022
